There are few things quite as nice as opening your laptop at a coffee shop, connecting wirelessly to a network, and enjoying a cup of coffee. A publicly available wireless network is called a hotspot. Hotspots are popping up at bookstores, airplane terminals, hotels, and just about anywhere you might think to try to get some mail or do some work on your laptop. Many hotspots are free (so called free-spots) by intent and anyone is welcome to use them. Many more hotspots are free because people don't turn their wireless security on. No password and no encryption equals "free," and for some it is great sport to ride around "hotspotting" or "wardriving" in their cars detecting available hot spots to list on their web sites. For a primer on warchalking, a related activity, see www.jiwire.com/warchalking-introduction.htm. Keep in mind that jumping on a wireless network uninvited is a form of hacking and an intrusion, so tread lightly.

There are many instances where it makes good business sense to set up a hot spot, and indeed for some companies setting up hotspots is a business in itself. If you own a motel and want to provide wireless networking to your guests, a hot spot is just the ticket. It can be a service that you charge for, which, if you have enough customers more than makes up for the low costs involved in setting a hotspot up. There are companies that will sell you a canned solution, a so-called "hotspot in a box." Other ISPs offer hotspot service as an option on your business account. Without too much effort it's straightforward to build your own hotspot as long as you know about a few of the hidden gotchas.

In this chapter we'll look at how you as a small business owner can go about setting up a hot spot, making it a paying proposition (or not), and do so safely and securely for all the parties concerned. Hopefully this chapter will answer the question "Is this a business for me?"